6” BISEP™ | Dammam’s Second Industrial Area, Saudi Arabia

STATS Group performed hot tapping and plugging operations on a live gas pipeline to allow maintenance activities to be carried out safely in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Two hot tap installed BISEPs™ were deployed into a 6” natural gas pipeline in Dammam’s Second Industrial Area on behalf of a gas distribution company. The client has a vast underground distribution network providing natural gas to industrial clients throughout the city. The two BISEPs™ were deployed simultaneously to provide a mid-line isolation of a 70-metre section of the network while hot work modifications were performed with the system live and at full operational pressure of 275 psi.

The pipework tracked a main four lane highway through the city, which presented additional safety challenges. One lane was partially closed while excavation work to uncover the pipework was carried out, allowing STATS technicians access to complete the hot tap and plugging operation. The highway remained open for the duration of the workscope.

Hot tap machine and pipe coupon removed

The patented BISEP™ provides one of the fastest, safest, and most reliable pipeline isolation technologies available to operators. The fail-safe double block and bleed isolation is deployed through a single full bore hot tap penetration, leak-tight seals prevent the need for additional bleed or vent ports. The dual seals are hydraulically activated and provide an annulus port that proves and monitors the seal integrity before and during the intervention work, offering significant safety advantages over traditional line stop technology.

The high integrity isolation provided by the BISEP™ allowed welding to be performed on the gas system in a heavily industrialised area without shutting down. Once the maintenance work was completed and the BISEPs™ were recovered, completion plugs were fitted to the split-tee flanges allowing the fittings to remain on the line.

Completion plug and blind flange fitted to the split tee fitting

STATS supplied all hot tap split-tee fittings, hot tapping machine, BISEPs™ and completion plugs, and all hot tapping and line isolation work was carried out by STATS technicians. Prior to deployment onsite, STATS carried out a client witnessed factory acceptance test at their Abu Dhabi facility.